Into the forest...

Queiin mentally cursed and gracefully got to her feet. She sat him pat the bench and she moved to sit beside him. Objectively, he was handsome, beautiful even but her dislike of him greyed her vision of him. She needed to adopt a better approach to this or she feared he was going to sense her distaste for him. She was a sarcastic, venomous bitch if she wasn't careful. She'd come to court to try and make a living as a court entertainer, but when she realized that the rumors of Bastien's poor leadership were true and indeed led to situations like hers, her hatred for him grew. Maybe she'd get some information on him that could hurt him in some way. She listened to his rant and then answered his question, "I am an entertainer for the court, milord. I dance, play music, and other such things."

At her words, his heart dropped in his chest. "I... I uh don't have much friends Your Grace." He says as he brushes off his clothes before picking up his papers. "I will however, have to work some more before I take that well deserved break. Your other Advisers are hard at work as well." He says, a little bit of sarcasm to his voice. While yes, they worked hard while on duty, after they leave they tended to forget all about their work to the queen. At least most of them were like this.

"I was just fucking with you." Sofi rolled her eyes and laughed. "My illusions only worked based off of the emotions you feel at the moment. You honestly think I am that arrogant and self centered if I stayed here to argue with someone who is supposedly "beneath" me? Even though, I do genuinely like the title of 'Queen of Condescension'. Good one." She grinned, playing with the smudge sticks after paying for it. "I'm sorry if you feel like I intruded into your thoughts. I can't necessarily turn off telepathy, I don't even hear the entire sentence most of the time and normally I ignore it but it was so easy to get to you. Look how it is, simply by making you angry I learned so much about you. It would be unfair for me to know about you and you not know about me though, I much prefer to have honesty between us. Hopefully we will engage in conversation again." She picked up the new smudge sticks and put it in her bag. "Don't let your emotions get a hold of you so easily next time. The wrong person can abuse it, really." Sofia had already turned around to head to the door. She looked back at him with unexpected, honest affection in her eyes. "I feel your pain on not being equal with someone else but the goal isn't to be equal. It's to be better." And with that she left, realizing a good two hours had passed and the cleansing was supposed to start in three. She had to prepare the house and broke off into a run.

Her Adviser started to shake a little at the news. He didn't want her to leave just yet. He couldn't imagine his life without her. He had been by her side for so long. Back when she was rose cheeked and always smiling. He loved her then and he loves her even more now. He thought for a moment about confessing his love to her. He even started his sentence before shutting his mouth quickly. How could he say such a thing to her now? She wouldn't have to deal with it, but if she were to die and they ended badly he couldn't live with it afterwards. "I am sorry to hear of it of course..." The words seemed to fall out of his mouth. "Your court wont know what to do with itself once you are gone." It sounded like he was talking more about himself, really, and of course he was. All he could think about was himself right now. How /he/ would deal with her loss, how much /he/ would miss her. It was completely unfair that she had to leave him so soon.

The Adviser swallows hard at her words. He couldn't imagine her with anyone else, let alone producing an heir. "I-Is there anyone in m-mind you had to help produce an heir?" He was starting to feel his heart start to race. "I mean, if you don't I am sure another noble family will take over and do a good job. Not as good a job as you, of course. You were the best this court has ever had."

Bastien let out a shout of laughter. This small faerie sure was bold. "I'll be sure to remember that, Queiin." he nodded his head to her and stood from the small alcove, brushing off his bare knees. He noted the shadow of one of his attendants off to the side and frowned; they were supposed to always be on hand, but he had specifically requested to never see them. It made him feel trapped. "If you'll excuse me, there's a...matter I must deal with." he motioned to the attendant, a small bearded dwarf, who gulped nervously and looked with pleading eyes at his ruler. Bastien just smiled, nodded his head to Queiin, and strode towards the thrown room, the dwarf trembling after him.

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Mordred gave him a searching look. "I'm not certain that the rest of the court would agree with your assessment. My illness has necessitated my being more hands off than ever, and I do worry about that. I'm blessed to have good fey such as you to assist me." her look turned into a smile and she coughed into her kerchief once more before replying, "As for an heir, I am considering, ah, producing one." she made a face, "It never seemed appealing to me. Such a messy situation. Still, it's for the good of my court, and I was born to serve my people."

Kia listened as the door snapped closed. Though she could no longer hear what was going on in the courtroom, she had a basic idea; the expression of their Ruler was enough to warn anyone of the storm coming. She turned to Kai just as he stepped towards her. She cocked her head inquisitively to the side.

------

Mordred didn't catch his joking tone. She put a hand to her chin, squinting in thought. "It's too much to hope that it's a noble father, though I'm certain some of the higher families will find fault with whoever I decide on." she sighed and ran a hand through her hair, trying not to notice how thin it seemed compared to it's previous volume. Thinking about dying only made it harder to try to get all of her affairs in order. "I supposed I'd be lucky to simply find someone responsible and kind to raise my child once I'm gone."

Queiin let out a breath when Bastien moved away. She leaned back into the bench heavily, her heart pounding. Fuck, she was screwed; as an entertainer at a ball it might just as well be her last social event. Still, she needed to keep a level head as showing weakness often led to you getting stabbed in the back. She didn't think he was coming back so she curled back up into the seat and thought about what she could do to ensure she had at least somewhat of a safety net.

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Jyiinx was near the back of the store, sorting gemstones into the wall of little shelves where they were stored. He had silvery hair slicked to the side and a blue, black, and green outfit on that accented his slim, lanky build. His head turned when he heard footsteps and voices in the front of the store. From their speech they were fey and he continued to sort, letting them browse as they pleased. He had other business to take care of this evening and needed to get the inventory out before he left for the day.

"Whatever it is is probably the last thing he'll ever do. You don't cross His Grace twice and live to tell the tale." Kia laughed, her tail swinging around to rest on top of her legs. Her eyes swept over the hall in a routine motion and she sighed; she missed the excitement of their Mundane job. Despite the grandiosity of her working title in the court, their physical protection was rarely needed. Having two fully grown dragons (as well as the Ruler's reputation) was usually enough to keep any troublemakers at bay.

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Mordred laughed, "Thank you, dear Adviser. I am certain all will fall into place, given time." she felt a shiver run through her body and her cheeks flushed pink, "If you would be so kind as to wheel me back to my chambers now, I'm afraid I must rest. So sorry to leave you this way." Nowadays it seemed as though she was always leaving in the middle of something, from her breakfast to the weekly council meetings she attempted to sit through. Her body wasn't up to long trips out of bed even with her chair, and it scared her more than she wanted to admit.

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Bastien watched the trembling figure of the dwarf in front of him. Dwarves, truth be told, were one of his least favorite types of fae. They were dirty little things, always covered in rock dust, their pockets bulging with unfinished jewels. He tolerated them only because their jeweled handiwork was second to none. All of the royal pieces were handcrafted by dwarves, including the simple silver circlet currently resting on his head. Their work was deceptively delicate for their clumsy looking fingers and ruddy appearance.

This particular dwarf was, however, a simple low level employee. Like all of his kind he had a way with jewels but it wasn't enough to keep him in house and home. If Bastien remembered correctly (which was doubtful, being that he had over five hundred servants) this dwarf was a hedge trimmer in the garden.

Which meant he was easily replaceable.

"What do they call you, dwarf?" he called lazily, reclining back in the ornate thrown. The dwarf jumped and immediately prostrated himself at Bastien's feet.

"They call me gurg, if'n it pleases yer highness." he managed to get out, his normally gruff voice almost a squeak.

"Gurg. You do know why I've brought you here, do you not?"

"Yessir. But if I can just say-"

"Silence." At Bastien's word Gurg's head, which he had hopefully raised, smacked back down onto the cool marble floor, "You have broken the rules. For that you must be punished. I wish it weren't the case, but if I let go every being who offended me we would have complete anarchy."

Gurg began to protest, but thought better of it and simply nodded, his head still against the floor. Bastien smiled.

"But I'm feeling extra generous today." he snapped his fingers and two large armed guards appeared seemingly from thin air, "I'll have them take you to the dungeons. Perhaps I'll even release you after a while."

Gurg looked at Bastien with tears in his eyes, but was dragged bodily from the room before he could reply. As soon as the trio had left, Bastien sighed. He always loved to punish those who got in his way, but somehow it was far less satisfying today than usual. His mind kept going back to the strange and beautiful entertainer from the courtyard. Perhaps the royal ball would be sooner than thought.

Kia snapped playfully at the dwarf, enjoying the sight of his eyes alighting in terror. His small frame got further and further in the distance, but she could still hear his whimpers echoing down the empty hall. She turned to her brother, "Shall we guard the club tonight, dearest?"

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Mordred was already half asleep by the time she was wheeled into her chambers. Her nursemaid, a kind old crone with a touch of healing magic that (though not near strong enough to cure her) could help her get through the night. The nurse shuffled over to the wheeled chair, bumping the adviser out of the way with her hip and steering it towards the bed. "That'll do now, sir." she told him in her knotted voice. "M'lady needs her rest." somehow, everything out of her mouth seemed like a chastisement.

Mordred gave him a small smile as she was helped into her ornate four poster bed. She rested back against the pillows with a groan and felt her body settling into the soft fabric. "Be safe, my Adviser." her voice was but a whisper.

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Bastien stood suddenly from his thrown, shivering slightly at the touch of the cold floor on his bare feet. He strode across the room and shoved the door open, banging it against Kia in the process. After raising an eyebrow at her to make her step out of the way, he hurried into the official court meeting room. There he found a scroll and a vicious looking black quill and began to write.

After a few moments, he held up the page to admire his handiwork.

"ROYAL PROCLAMATION:
THE BALL IS TO COMMENCE AT THE NEXT FULL MOON IN TWO WEEKS TIME."

He blew on the quickly drying ink, then rolled the scroll tightly and snapped his finger. One of his ever present servants appeared at his side and whisked the scroll away. He could almost hear the cogs of the castle turning as preparations began; the ball took months to prepare for, so of course they would have to scrabble. But he didn't worry about that. There was more than enough gold to assure it would be as lavish as always, and everyone who was anyone would cancel their moonrise plans to attend.

Jyiinx straightens, the corner of his mouth quicking up as he sets the empty box to the side. "No, I'm sorting not counting as I already know how many of each are in the boxes." He dusts his hands off a bit from the crystal dust off the geodes and givers her a pleasant smile. "Were you looking for anything particular today?" He doesn't really remember seeing her before, but then again, he often forgets people's faces and names if they aren't that important; so many people go in and out of his shop it was rather pointless to keep track of them all. His eyes flick to a moment to the other in the store and he notices they are very similar in appearance. Sisters, or perhaps twins? His eyes then flicked back to the woman standing in front of him, his pleasant customer-smile never dropping.

Jyiinx's relaxed demeanor shifts as her eyes move over his body. Normally, he enjoyed such look overs, always welcoming meeting a new lover or friend. However, hers was predatory and his instincts urged him to meet it with leering of his own. He didn't tolerate hostilities in his store from any of the fey - towards each other, the humans, and least of all himself. But, before he could reply, the other woman was there, stopping anything from escalating. He molded the pleasant expression back onto his face. He guessed he shouldn't be too surprised considering they were vampires; the "good bite" and hungry gaze were confirmation.

"Ah, nepheline, or as some call it, cloud rock." He motioned for them to follow him to the register. He moved behind the counter and began ringing up the small rock.